I had every intention on Sunday afternoon to simply take inventory of all that was going on in the garden. No shovel, no pruning shears, not even a container to throw weeds in. You might call it a sojourn or gentle stroll or if you were me, you would call it a walk amongst awesomeness. It would be a chance to enjoy new blooms, or buds or even continued foliage growth without the need to do anything.
And after a good three seconds of staying the course, we suddenly had a change in plans. The f’n dreaded to-do list was created, updated on the appropriate Excel document labeled “to-do” and each line item was color coded based on the date it would get done. This isn’t some silly fodder for another blog post, I can send you all a copy of the document as proof. Gardening as “relaxing pastime”, ha, that is for someone else who doesn’t understand the severity of what we are dealing with here. Here’s a taste:
The Siberian irises should be close to blooming, but I am consumed with the need to yet again divide so many of these that have formed bare spots in their centers:
Now that all of the Clethra’s have leafed out, I have to prune off all of their spent blooms from last year. Why didn’t I do that on a slow late winter’s day?:
And just like that, the peonies are in bud. And just like that, it is time to fend off the deer so I can cut a bunch of these and roll in the bed with them give them to my wife to add to vases all over the house:
The poison ivy is everywhere and it is time to finally address it head on. Need to check my wife’s schedule this week:
Oh I suppose you would like to be planted some time soon?:
“Deadhead for more flowers”. Oh yeah:
My little raised bed needs reinforcements now that the tomatoes have been planted and the deer have all tweeted out that information to each other:
That dead spot on the boxwood has been eating away at me for weeks and I have no excuses:
Time to research what has happily reseeded to see if it can stay or has to go:
If I could move that Carex just 6 inches to the right, I could start to lessen the shakes that have developed:
What the f is growing under my Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’?:
Brown is the new green, right? No?:
What Baptisia did I not remember planting here? Will it possibly have enough room in the future? What can I plant around it now until it fills in? This is so relaxing:
I am so glad that I have improved my spacing of plants skills:
And now I am even more stressed recounting the story to y’all.
How about something a little light before we end it?
Don’t even ask about the inspiration for this one. Just know my neighbors have the same exact concerns.
Maybe my daughter has the right approach.
And by right approach, I mean get dressed up in my dance wares, dance my ass off and then kick back and enjoy getting the stress out. Girlfriend doesn’t have a care in the world.
After looking at your to-do list, I actually feel pretty good about what I got done yesterday, hehehe. Just kidding!! Laughed about the deer. And the poison ivy. Great list.
My motto, it all gets done…right?!
Hehehe. I don’t dare do a walkabout, cuz I get pulled in by the first thing I see that bugs me. Actually….I am pretty good about ignoringthings-in the house that is.
Good to see you on DG.
As I am mowing I see all the things that I need to do. I need to go back and cut out the dead section in the Japanese yew. My dogwood has taken over and I burned up an Austrian pine, small. It didn’t grow much new back and I need to cut it down. I also have a juniper spreading pine that hits me in the face. It is all too big and it all has to go. It has been there over 20 years or more and I ignored its ability to take over everything. Hang in there. Chip away at it and then you can find more things to obsess over.
I think that’s a disease (or perhaps I should call it a mental condition) that affects most gardeners. My guess is that it’s transmitted by the first touch of a trowel. Good luck paring down the list (as you continue to add new items).
Year 5 and I still see no end to the weekend work instead of sitting back and enjoying what I hath wrought. I finally cleaned up the flower stalks from last year’s echinacea and aster extravaganza – looked crazy ugly with the new greens coming up.
Dug up rudbeckias, the only perennials from my failed wildflower garden experiment – a big long 40′ x 8′ bed that only looked good in June. Noticed poison ivy growing in there – just great. Hubby is _much_ more allergic than me so guess who gets to don disposable nitrile gloves and scrub up my arms with Tecnu afterwards just in case of contact?
Sprayed the deer-susceptible plants I have (hostas and baloon flower) with Deer Out. I swear this stuff WORKS to prevent the salad bar phenomenon!
And silly me went out to the nursery and came home with a bunch of chartreuse foliage items because I just HAD to have them.
Wow… poison ivy in the perennials. That is simply nasty! I won’t complain about my dandelions ever again. Always enjoy your posts. Thanks, and, good luck.
lmbo! tomorrow is my ‘me’ time, which I have decided to spend in the garden.. thanks for the laughs.. and making me kinda dread it now lol.. jk.. can’t wait to finally get to it!!